22 May 2013 5:21 PM

Follow Christian the lion from Harrods to Kenya on a tour with John Rendall

You may not know the names John Rendall and Ace Bourke, but the chances are you have seen the YouTube video of Christian the lion greeting his old owners a year after being released into the wild. After all, it has been viewed 100million times.

Now animal lovers who were inspired by the story of two young men who bought a lion from Harrods in the Sixties and raised him on the Kings Road before setting him free in Kenya, can play their own part in the epic tale.

John - who has become a conservation ambassador, raising the issue of protecting wildlife in Africa - is leading a specialist safari to the Kenyan parks where Christian was rehabilitated into the wild.

The playful lion was trained by George Adamson, the man who was the subject of the book and film Born Free, and the group will be visiting the two camps where he and his former wife Joy worked tirelessly to rehabilitate a mix of big cats.

As well as taking in Meru and Shaba National Parks, which are not on the usual tourist trail, John will tell the inside story on his experience with Christian the lion and how he became to passionate about conservation.

He now works with the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust (www.georgeadamson.org), undertaking major restoration projects and talking to British schoolchildren and Kenyan locals about the importance of protecting the African wildlife.

Accommodation will be in elegant safari lodges and luxury tents named after Joy and the beloved lion Elsa who featured in Born Free and the 12-day tour costs from £5,250 per person, including flights, accommodation, transfers and tours.

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